The Red Lion — Restaurant in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

Popped out earlier today for lunch in the sun. My mobility isn't great, so I sought a table, while my son went to the bar for beers and menus. He works within the same group, so is very objective about waiting times/service etc. I thought he'd got lost, but he did explain, customer volume had exceeded staff numbers, but they'd had the good grace to explain, and that was no longer a problem. We're both massive dog lovers, so we soon found well behaved four legged distractions. Now knowing that we might wait a little for service, my son returned to order our food, and second drinks. The Signature Burgers were superb, proper quality beef, and onion rings to die for! We're big units, with healthy appetites, but felt no need for for additional courses, but both the Guinness and Thatchers, were both right on par. Can't say that of everywhere in the week of St Pats? The table servers were spot on, engaging and polite, the one fella even working past his allotted break, to make sure our needs were met, couldn't fault them. The custom around us, ebbed and flowed naturally enough, and if I had to withhold a star, some dog owners are not too responsible, and when you can hear the yapping above the road noise, you know the experience is about to descend. The other downside, the old chestnut, being the anti social smokers! Whether there's a designated area or not, the anti social among them, still managed to detract from a near perfect lunch. We will return, without doubt, it was just such a shame, that having driven out from the city, the outdoor experience...

Come here every week with my parents and usually it’s brilliant, however today arrived with my younger sister (for reference i’m 20) and felt we were treated differently due to our age, on arrival we were 10 minutes late and the manager made sure to let us know that, but that’s fair, waited 10 minutes until we had to flag someone down for a drink (table of older couple next to us also waiting for people and immediately asked if they wanted a drink) , manager came over while i was on the phone (to my grandma who we were waiting for) to remind us we only had an hour and a half left on the table, found his tone quite patronising and wonder if he reminds all his customers of this? 20 minutes no one had taken food order so went up to bar where was told to go back to the table to order.

Then soon as my grandma and uncle arrived they were spoken to far more politely by the manager and told no rush to get off the table. I work in hospitality myself and understand needing to get people off tables etc but it’s appalling how differently we were spoken to in comparison to the other customers.

It’s a shame as the food was brilliant and like i said usually come with my parents and never...

We had lunch at the red lion this afternoon, and I don't usually feel the need to review places but today was different. We went for 4 roast dinners (it was Sunday and miserable weather). The meat was terribly fatty and Luke warm, potatoes hit and miss, flat as a pancake Yorkshire's, very hard parsnips and all rather Luke warm all around but the carrots were gorgeous 😀 Quite small portions but for me it was enough but a few more roasties would have been nice. After dinner I went to the loo but was unable to go as the toilets were unusable, no loo roll. Only one working toilet and the sanctuary bin was tipped over inside the small cubicle, I told staff but received no apology, but hey it was a busy Sunday I guess! But why only one toilet open? We then ordered desserts as we were abit hungry still. They were all very good indeed, especially the sticky toffee pudding 😋 and the beer sorbet was one of the best things ever!!! It was that tasty. So really great dessert all round. When the bill came over we were over changed but that was a honest mistake. So overal, very hit but mostly miss. We may try again if only for the...